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Crude Oil Drops on Greece, Brent Trades at Premium

Crude oil fell today as traders are concerned that Greece wont’ be able to reach an agreement about the next portion of aid. The European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund demand more budget cuts from Greece, but the country may be unable to accept such demands. Greek officials claim that they are close to reaching an agreement, but many market participants remain worried that such claims are empty.

London-traded Brent grade of oil performed vastly different from its New York-traded counterpart. That’s an unusual behavior as most of the time all types of oil are influenced by same fundamentals. Rising demand for Brent can be explained by forecast of below-normal temperatures in Europe. Additionally, a militant group in Nigeria damaged pipeline that belongs to Italian company, resulting in a loss of 4,000 barrels per day of production.

Futures for delivery of crude oil in March dropped $0.93 to $96.91 per barrel on NYMEX. At the same time, Brent oil rose from $115.00 to $116.52 per barrel, the highest settlement since September 8, as of 20:43 GMT today on ICE.
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